


Gravitanium

by Astoria Gracewell (arh581958)



Series: #MalecWeek [17]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Astronauts, Cute, Cutesy, Day 5 - SpaceAU, Embarassed!Magnus, Engineer!Magnus, First Dates, Fluff, Getting Together, IN SPACE!, M/M, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood's First Date, Malec Week, Malec Week 2017, Meet-Cute, Outer Space, Rated for nudity, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, Soldier!Alec, Space Battles, Space Stations, Unconventional Dates, embarassed!Alec, malecweek, not sex, sly!Magnus, unconventional date invitation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 01:23:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11430255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arh581958/pseuds/Astoria%20Gracewell
Summary: Lt.Cdr. Alec Lightwood is beating himself up after the result of the final battle. Magnus finds him and tries to cheer him up.





	Gravitanium

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Malec Week July 2017. Day 5 - SpaceAU.
> 
> Note: Rated for Nudity

_*thud thud thud-thud!*_

Alec was in the training room again.

* _thud-thud thud!*_

Memories of the last firefight replayed in his mind—

_Stingers on their tail._

_Jetstars at their flanks._

_They were heat from three sides._

_Captain Starkweather shouting from his seat to light-up enemy fighter ships._

—His shirt and towel hovered on a hook beside him, and his dark grey fleet-issued sweatpants rippled with whenever he moved.

* _thud-thud thwak!_ *

Alec didn’t want to remember—

_The way the deck shook when the ship took a critical hit to the right flank._

_Red lights blared overhead with an ear-piercing siren._

‘ _Where are our shields?!’_

_‘Down to fifty-percent, Captain! Loosing it fast. We can’t reroute anymore from the thrusters.’_

_A loud curse._

_‘Wayland, Lightwood, get off the nav system. Get your bums down to the weapons deck. I want them all shot down in the next twenty!’_

—He landed round house kick smack in the middle of the hover bag. It fell away by impressive degree, swaying before returning to the upright position.

Sweat glistened on his skin.

Damp bangs clung to his forehead.

* _thwak thwak_ *

_The ship almost didn’t make it but Jace hit the last sucker before it kamikazed them._

Alec hit the back with a double-hit combo, breathing hard. The bag toppled over. It fell to the floor with a mighty roar, thrusters whining.

“Ahh, I see you’ve been the one destroying all the hover bags,” a voice came from behind him, “What’s poor Mademoiselle Lucille ever done to insult you?”

“M-Magnus!” Alec stammered with a blush. He swiped the black shirt behind him, shrugging it on before standing at attention. A familiar _pull_ coiled in his stomach.

“Oh, please don’t cover up on my behalf. I was enjoying the view.” Magnus eyes Alec with a chuckle, making the younger man blush harder. “At ease, Lieutenant Commander, or should I just call you Alexander since we aren’t on the bridge?”

“Ah-Alexander is fine, err, Lieutenant Commander,” he said, fighting the urge to move closer. The pull had been there since he first laid eyes on the dark-skinned, cat-eyed, older man.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “You’ve already called me by name, no need to be so formal when it’s just the two of us, Alexander. We’re the same rank after all.” He bent down to examine the whizzing hover bag. “Hmm, the gravitanium relays are dislodged. Cheer up, Mademoiselle, papa’s going to make you good as new.”

“Ehrm…” Alec shifted on the balls of his feet. He stared at the floor, embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to kick it too hard.”

“Her,” Magnus corrected lightly. He was on his knees beside the broken bag, examining it. His long ring-covered fingers glowing as he swept a hand over the mechanical components. “I am sure you did. I’ve seen you in a fist fight—back a Chronis Niu?”

Alec’s eyes widened. That wasn’t his finest moment.

Magnus merely grinned. “Yeah, I saw you tear that Youchuuli another one without breaking a sweat.” He looked up from whatever mechanic magic he was doing to look up at Alec. “Not that I don’t enjoy the view. But, maybe we can move this somewhere else?”

“Huh, what?” Alec asked, confused.

Magnus stood up, hands brushing invisible space dust from his backside. “I need to haul the Madam—that’s the bag, in case you aren’t following—to the shop for some repairs. As the head engineer, I can’t have faulty equipment lying about, you know. You’re helping me fix her.”

“Uhm, okay?”

“Good. I’ll meet you down at the workshop in 30.”

***

Alec had only ever been _The Workshop_ once during the initial tour of the Asich Destroyer. His primary station is on the flight deck, handling the weapons system with his sister and half-brother. All three of them handle different parts of the ship’s arsenal.

* _swish_ *

The people inside all stared at him.

“Ehrm, I’m looking for Magnus?”

“And you are?” Lt. Ragnor Fell, the green Ragonian, sneered. He wore bright green-over all made of some type of plastic-rubber hybrid, and his eyes looked absolutely huge with the magnifying eyeglasses he wore.

Alec opened his mouth but another cut in.

“Oh, Ragnor, you ninny, don’t be so rude. He’s one of our weapons specialist. Look at the gold stripe! He keeps our bums safe, ya know,” Lt. Catarina Loss, the blue Dvmnus, chastised. She wore the same uniform except in pale blue. “Come right in, Lt. Commander, I’ll go get the boss.”

“Hopeless.” Rangor muttered under his breath as they passed.

Catarina led Alex deeper into the bowels of the ship, down past the past the engine room and near the rear thrusters of the ship. The place was called Down World for a reason. Few of the bridge crew ever made it down here.

“Magnus is right down the hall way.” Catarina pointed to another sealed room. Alec frowned at the door. She giggled. “Don’t worry. Just press your hand on the bad. I’m sure he’s given you access already. Well, good luck!”

Alec didn’t have time to ask anything else. Catarina disappeared. Sighing, he trudged up to the end of the narrow corridor. Cool vibranium metal surrounded him. A thousand lights flickered, covering an impressive portion of the wall.

Upon reaching the end, he pressed his palm against the bio-lock. The panel pulsed under his fingers. He waited for the light to turn green. The, the door slid open with another loud swish.

“What the—?”

Loud heavy metal music erupted from the room.

Alec covered his ears with both hands to try and salvage his eardrums. Looking around, he spotted a pair of ear-covers by the table. He grabbed put them on with a hurry. The covers wrapped over his ears. Only then did the head ache cease.

“Magnus!” He shouted, “Magnus!! Are you in here?!”

Glancing around the unfamiliar space, he had a moment to take it all in—it was a mechanic’s workshop with bits and pieces of the ship scattered on varying surfaces, in varying states of completion. A couple of stray tools floated about in a dark purple gravitanium field. He finally saw a pair of heavily-buckled feet floating over his head.

“Magnus!” He yelled, jumping to tap the boots.

The music cut-off in an instant.

Magnus drifted down. The top half of his overalls wrapped around his waist, leaving him in only a sparkly black tank top. Space grease and Saxonian oil marks covered his bare muscular arms.

“Oh, hello, Alexander. Is it time for our date already?” He asked, smiling. His fingers waved through the gravitanium field to put away his tools. Two droids hovered closer to him, bringing clean towels and a thermos.

Alec turned bright red. “Date?”

“Hmm, yes, date.” Magnus wiped his hands and poured hot liquid into the cup, “Tea?”

“I don’t—I can’t remember agreeing to a date…” Alec was too distracted by the way Magnus’ muscles moved to decline.

Magnus thrust the cup into his hands. “Well, will you be averse to it? You need to tell me right now, Alexander, before I take a shower. We _are_ trying to conserve water after all.”

Did he? Or did he not?

Alec wasn’t really too familiar with the man they nicknamed ‘warlock’. Sure, he’d seen Magnus around in the mess, in the hall ways, or in the briefing rooms. His eyes always followed the man in any room, but they never really spoke more than a few pleasantries in greeting. His sister’s been teasing him about the engineer for _months_ now.

A _little_ _crush_ wasn’t enough to cover it.

“Yeah,” he answered, swallowing.

Magnus flashed him a smile, all pearly-whites. “Perfect! I’ll just be a sec and if the androids start to bother you, feel free to swat them away. The little one is Chairman Meow and the grumpy one is Church, short for Churchill.”

True to Magnus’ words, the small android whizzed past Alec’s head in greeting while the hover-droid buzzed lowly while holding up the thermos.

“See? They like you! Good-good. I never date anyone my droids don’t like.” Magnus peeled of his tank top and overalls and strut into the clear glass shower chamber. The engineer didn’t seem to care that he was giving a really good view of his backside.

Alec felt his mouth dry up.

Chairman Meow whizzed over his head again.

“What?” He asked, trying and failing not to look at the showers. Steam now covered a large portion of the view. “I’m just looking.”

In a flash, the shower doors slid open and ste came rushing out.

“I hope you enjoyed the show,” Magnus said with a wink. He stepped out stark naked with miles of his dark skin on display. Chairman Meow and Church zoomed to him—Chairman with a towel and Church with a long silken robe. He tried it around his waist with a flourish. The rings clinked between his fingers. “How do I look?”

“Gorgeous,” Alec breathed out before he could stop himself.

Magnus licked his lips. “Hmm, oh, I do love your honesty, Alexander. Now, please,” he said, showing Alec to his left, “come with me. I have a special surprise for you. You can leave the cup with the Chairman.”

Chairman Meow hovered beside Alec.

“Uhm, thanks,” he said to the tiny android.

“Come along, Alexander.” Magnus beckoned Alec with a finger.

The workshop, Alec noted, was an amalgamation of a lot of things. Aside from the floating workstations, there were several tapestries and drapes hanging all over the room. Small robotic fireflies were buzzing about to keep the nooks and crannies illuminated.

Magnus led him to a door hidden behind beaded drapes.

“Take off your boots, please,” he instructed, pointing to a small shoe rack, “I’m a traditionalist at heart.”

Alec bent down to unbuckle the safety straps of his boots. The action lowered him to an engineer’s certain man-parts because that silk robe hid absolutely nothing.

“Asich to Alexander. Asich to Alexander. I hope your mind hasn’t drifted off to space now. We haven’t even gotten to the fun part yet!” Magnus wiggled his toes with a giggle.

Alec snapped back the buckles of his other boot with a bit too much force.

“Easy there, tiger. Regulation gear fall under my dominion too. Might wanna ease up on the angel force, angel-face.”

Alec blushed deep red by the time he stood upright.

“Blood gone up you head?”

‘At least not to other parts of me’, Alec inwardly said. “Yeah. It’s the gravitanium gears. You might wanna check on it.”

Magnus gave him a long deliberate once over. “I’ll…  get right on that. Gravitanium gear. Yes. How about we step inside? Be careful. The floor be a little bit tricky.”

Alec followed Magnus inside a tiny room. He slipped on the sloping curved flooring almost immediately.

Magnus, on the other hand was unfazed.

“Oh, I _did_ tell you to be careful,” he said, offering a hand.

“This requires more than a little care.” Nonetheless, Alec took the hand offered to him.  Flash of _something_ sparked between their fingers. It was as if their fingers fit together perfectly. He couldn’t describe it with words but the touch lingered long after their hands broke apart.

Magnus sat cross-legged in the middle of the spherical room, looking ethereal. His feline eyes glinted in pride when he saw Alec watching him. He started a series of strange arm movements and a hologramic panel appeared before him—a figure of eight with hands, his left staying at the center, his right pressing button and turning dials.

Suddenly, Alec felt the ground beneath his feet disappear—or rather, he hovered off the ground as if ship’s gravitanium fields decreased. He turned to Magnus. The engineer was floating in the middle with a large Cheshire grin on his face.

“What are you—?”

“Patience, my dear Alexander.”

The whole room began to spin. Smooth metal walls moved with impossible speed that Alec felt the softest breeze. His heart rate increased. He could hear the blood pumping drumbeats in his ear.

* _thudthudthud_ *

In the middle of the room, Magnus had his brow furrowed in concentration.

“Ahh-hah!”

Alec couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Is that…? Are we…?”

By then, the hologram was gone. Magnus floated up to him, robes fluttering around him.

Being in zero gravity felt similar to wading in a pool of deep water. It was the same weightlessness but none of the resistance. It felt like the first drop of what ancients called roller-coasters. Alec had never experienced nor seen anything like this his whole life, and he was born and raised on Terra Twenty-Seven.

Magnus looped their arms together. “Well, it’s still _technically_ just an illusion but it’s as close as I can get without having ever actually seen it. I had to rebuild the image from memory scraps from old droids and fleet files. This is… I think it is… this is your home world, isn’t it? I based it on an old ZK9 Rover from your fifth moon.”

“Y—yes,” Alec choked back a sob. He stared at the beautiful blues of his planet. It’s been a four hundred and fifty-one days since he’d been back home. Out here, in the vast infinity of space, he almost forgot what they were fighting for. “It’s beautiful.”

At the words, Magnus visibly released the tension that he’d been holding. “Oh, good,” he breathed out as if he was completely unsure if this stunt would have the effect that he’d been hoping for, almost as if he was expecting rejection. “Good, good, I was thinking that since you—”

“Magnus?”

“Ahh, yes, Alexander?”

Alec turned to their linked arms. The warmth emanated from the places were they’re touching—fingers to their elbows. He used it to pull their bodied closer, tugging until their faces were about a hair’s breath away.

“You know, you didn’t have to do this.”

Magnus rolled his eyes playfully. “Of course, I knew that. It’s more like I wanted to do something to cheer you up.”

“I know,” Alec replied with a smile, “but I’ll feel a million times better if you just come here and kiss me.”

**Author's Note:**

> ANNOUNCEMENT: I am moving to Ecuador for a couple of months. Any recommendations on what to do there? 
> 
> ***
> 
> If you have a prompt or an idea, you can [INSPIRE ME](http://arh581958.tumblr.com/submit) on tumblr. Or [TALK TO ME](http://arh581958.tumblr.com/ask)~
> 
> As always, **kudos/comments/bookmarks** are all appreciated by this author. I take comments as extra-kudos and I _do_ read the bookmark tags (some are really fun).


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